UPDATE: I-10 closing canceled for Saturday, delayed a week

UPDATE: TxDOT announced Friday morning that the planned work was canceled for this weekend, and will be rescheduled for the weekend of Jan. 24-25.

Closings along U.S. 290 at Loop 610 remain in place. Crews will close the freeway in both directions at Loop 610 at 9 p.m. Friday, and it will not reopen until 5 a.m. Monday. The work is related to the ongoing rebuilding of the interchange.

Eastbound drivers will be diverted to Interstate 10 westbound, where they can exit at Wirt Road and U-turn to head back to Loop 610 or eastbound on I-10. Westbound drivers will exit Loop 610 at T.C. Jester and use frontage roads to access U.S. 290.

ORIGINAL POST: Texas Department of Transportation officials are suggesting downtown Houston drivers find alternatives on Saturday to using Interstate 10, because of a freeway shutdown planned in both directions.

Crews pouring the concrete for a new bridge spanning I-10 along Meadow Street will close the freeway around Meadow and U.S. 59 from 4 a.m. until 6 p.m. Detours will divert traffic, but TxDOT officials are suggesting people avoid the freeway entirely.

Westbound drivers will be forced onto northbound U.S. 59, where they can exit at Collingsworth, u-turn onto the southbound frontage road, enter southbound U.S. 59 and merge from there to westbound I-10. Eastbound drivers will exit at Jensen, and use the eastbound frontage roads to re-enter I-10.

The Meadow Street bridge is being replaced with one that crosses the freeway at a higher elevation, after the older bridge was struck multiple times by tall loads on the freeway.

If the bridge pour is not completed Saturday, TxDOT spokesman Danny Perez said crews might close the freeway again. Setting the concrete for the bridge is the last remaining piece of work on Meadow that would require totally shutting down I-10.

Various entrance and exit ramps along I-10 and U.S. 59 will be closed, officials said in a release.